ATL07CA043

The pilot of the motor glider airplane stated that he bounced twice during the landing attempt, and he elected to apply power and abort the landing. During the aborted landing, he said he lost directional control, and the right wingtip struck the corner of a hangar. The airplane then struck the runway, collapsing the landing gear. There were no preaccident mechanical anomalies reported by the pilot, or discovered during the postaccident inspection.

According to the pilot, he had been doing touch and goes and this landing was to be a full stop. He observed the wind sock on downwind and it was hanging with no indication of wind. He stated he "did a normal base [and] final [and] upon touch down I bounced slightly, touched down again [and] bounced more so I decided to go around. I had plenty of runway left approximately 2/3 or about 3,000 feet. I applied full power [and] eased the stick back [and] all seemed normal. I suddenly started drifting to the right [and] toward a pine tree adjacent to the runway. I applied almost full left rudder to try to re-center [the] glider on the runway but was not able to. I determined that I did not have sufficient altitude or rate of climb to clear the tree so I lifted my right wing [and] cleared the tree." The glider turned toward the runway but he stated that he lost some altitude. "I then straightened up [and] again was pushed to the right by, I assume, a gust of wind [and] toward a hangar. I again tried to lift my right wing to clear [the hangar] but was unsuccessful. At this point my right wing tip struck the corner of the hangar. I was slightly banked left at that point [and] the glider moved toward the runway center, struck the runway [and] the gear collapsed. [The] glider then skidded on its belly and came to a stop at the edge of the runway. While on the ground before [and] after the incident I observed no wind gust but after the incident I talked to a contractor who had been working on a crane on a hangar and he informed me that during that afternoon that he had encountered short periods of wind gust followed by period of complete calm. I feel that this significantly contributed to the glider drifting to the right and [the] ensuing accident." The pilot egressed the glider without injury.

According to a witness, the airplane was attempting to land on runway 32. It touched down and then ballooned, then touched down again and ballooned again, gaining altitude. The glider then veered to the right, went off the runway above the hangars on the right, clipping the top of a hangar then abruptly hitting the ground. The pilot exited the glider unhurt.

Examination of the glider by an FAA Inspector found that the airplane had struck a hangar and then a tractor substantially damaging the right wing and landing gear. There were no mechanical problems reported by the pilot or discovered during the post-accident examination of the airplane.